Republicans, you lie!

This one is for the few people out there who still, inexplicably, proudly call yourselves Republicans. If you say you stand on anything of substance at this point, you lie!

I think and debate for a living. Over the years, I have grown to appreciate intelligent people who disagree with me. So to my detractors: I am not trapped in some retrograde circle of personal certainty.

One should not overlook the fact that disagreement does not rule the day in my paradigm. I did not say I appreciate “people” who disagree with me. I said I appreciate “intelligent people” who disagree with me. Here’s the problem with the current incarnation of the Republican Party and people who affiliate with it: Intelligence has left their building. They are no longer on the precipice of narrow-minded anti-intellectualism and obstructionism; they have taken the proverbial leap into a funk of mind-numbing stupidity, mean-spiritedness and fear-mongering that can lead to nothing good.

Let me be clear: There is a difference between legitimate conservatives and “death panel” conservatives. For instance, I rarely agree with the columnist George Will, but I respect his intellect. He is a serious conservative. These clowns carrying guns to and screaming at the top of their lungs at health care town hall meetings with no facts to back them up, spewing the same foolishness at “tea parties” and 9/12 marches, and taking everything lemmings like Rush Limbaugh, Glenn Beck and Michael Savage say as law are the death panel types.

Here’s the problem: The death panelists currently control the Republican Party. They celebrate people like Sarah Palin, who can’t string five coherent sentences together. They prop up racists like Joe Wilson. Reasonable conservatives are all but left out in the cold. I really wonder what men like Colin Powell are thinking right now. What do they think of this abomination of a political party that has morphed into a den of hypocrites, liars and racists? Yes, I said racists. “Party of Lincoln” my ass. This party now has as much in common with Lincoln as Sarah Palin does with Harriet Tubman.

Jimmy Carter was right when he said, “I think an overwhelming portion of the intensely demonstrated animosity toward President Barack Obama is based on the fact that he is a black man, that he’s African-American … That racism inclination still exists, and I think it’s bubbled up to the surface because of the belief among many white people — not just in the South but around the country — that African-Americans are not qualified to lead this great country.”

Clownish, shuffling, black Republican slave-stooge Michael Steele predictably parroted his masters: “President Carter is flat-out wrong — this isn’t about race. It is about policy.” Are you serious? There are legitimate policy points to raise about the various health care proposals floating around Washington, but that’s not what the Republicans and their acolytes are attacking. They are attacking the president. They are insanely ranting about wanting their country back, despite the fact that they are a distinct minority in this country. They are carrying signs depicting Obama as a devil, Hitler, and in clown face. They are still saying he is not a legitimate citizen. They are out of control and dangerous.

Deny it all you want. Criticize Carter and others. This isn’t about health care. It isn’t about policy. It isn’t about some tenacious search for the truth. This isn’t about politics proper. If you say it is, you lie. These people are racists — plain and simple.

Nothing else explains them deifying Joe Wilson, the same man who sat at Strom Thurmond the Racist’s knee. The same man who criticized Thurmond’s half-black daughter for coming out of the closet. Wilson the Washington and Lee graduate. The same Joe Wilson who as a South Carolina state senator aggressively opposed the removal of the confederate battle flag from the state house’s dome. Note to you Southern-pride, confederate racists: You lost. Time to get over it. Joe Wilson is a racist. And those who now glorify his madness are racists, too. If you deny it, you lie.

Many comparisons have been made between these Republicans and the 1994 group. At least Newt Gingrich and his boys had ideas. This current crop has nothing but negativity and their mean, ignorant, racist followers. Why even think about being bipartisan with that?